Jewellery making course

I recently started an evening course in jewellery making at Leeds College of Art and Design. So far I've only been to two lessons, but I'm already learning a lot. I'm not talking about putting beads on a thread here, but proper metal work.

Our first task is to make a ring made of copper. We've learned how to measure ring sizes with the help of a steel wire - this is important to get the right amount of material for the item you are making. You don't want the ring to get too small or too big! We've also learned annealing - which is a technique of heating up metal with the help of fire. After that we cleaned the copper in some kind of acid (I can't remember what it was called), followed by trying to bend the copper stick into a ring with some tongs. Easier said than done!

After having soldered it together we used a wooden hammer and a thick metal stick (the kind you use for making rings - I can't remember the correct term for that either) to make the ring perfectly round.

Next lesson we're gonna make the ring all shiny, and ready to wear. Exciting!

I've got my eyes on this jewellery book from Amazon. A girl in my class bought it, and it includes all the basic techniques you need to know, plus a lot more. There are lots of pretty pictures in it as well :) I really need to read up on the techniques, as I'm clueless about what the teacher is talking about sometimes. I blame it on the fact that I'm Swedish :P The book is only £13.97, so it's well worth it!